Water Project Is Coming To Close And Computer Centre Is Making A New Start In Aygepar Village

ART, “Hayreniq” Union, “Armenian Water and Sewerage Company (AW&SC)” CJSC and Aygepar village mayor partnering within “Social Betterments and Contribution to Peace Building in Aygepar” programme met on September 10, 2008 to discuss water project implementation, its closure and pipeline handover related. Aygepar village mayor and AW&SC representatives introduced project activities and covered questions by ART and “Hayreniq” Union. The project was performed as planned and parties agreed to sign a work acceptance act on September 12, 2008.
The programme was planned to improve conditions of life for people in Aygepar village through construction of a drinking water pipe line and establishment of a computer centre in a secondary school of Aygepar. Both activities are coming to close as designed.
The pipe was laid with the help of villagers who were inspired by the project and contributed by doing land work. “We were glad to work on the line and better water provision to our houses, it will ease our lives a lot,” said one of village residents, whom we met at a public water spring spot. People used to collect water from two springs in the village, the new line will maintain water to all houses throughout the village on an uninterrupted base.
Another activity run by ART in Aygepar secondary school was establishment of a computer centre. The centre is the favorite classroom for the students and educators. The ART equipped the centre with 6 Pentium IV computers, multifunctional equipment (Scanner, Printer, and Xerox), a digital camera, 3 TV sets in January, 2008. The computer centre is evolved in ART “Computer Literacy for everyone and Sustainability of Computer Centres” programme, which aims to assist ART established computer centres in community related activities and running rooms self-reliant. The site staff in computer centre regularly organizes trainings for students and educators, use the computer center for classes of Informatics, teachers conduct classes on different subjects using the inter-active and visual methods in teaching, i.e. teachers in addition to textbooks elaborate extra materials and tasks, cartoons are played for the young students. The computer centre also serves for school regular curriculum, serves for community and school events on holidays, i.e. on September 1st “Day of Knowledge”, on April 7th “Mothers Day”.
The school leadership is enthusiastic about the centre and outlines plans for future operations. The principal of the school has a special approach to the Information Technologies and its integration in teaching and he uses achievable opportunities for professional development of the educators and the students as well. A special project entitled “The Data Processing System” is a unique initiative designed as a pilot project (among all sec. and special schools in Armenia) to create a single system to enable the computer centre to virtually serve classrooms. The project aims at strengthening the role of the computer centre and other new technologies at the school, finding innovative ways to communicate, and subsequently inspire educators to make classes more engaging for students. Through other donation the project included the purchase of three television sets, a DVD player, microchips and a cable to provide connection between the computer centre and classroom. The equipment and microchips were specifically installed in one computer to allow for re-translation via television sets in classrooms.
Drawing from the fact that the integration of Information Technology in education and in society is a constantly evolving area, training of teachers, students as well as community members is important for the neighboring communities of Aygepar village. Collaboration and sharing of experiences, trainings for neighboring community members and schools for Aygepar computer center is going to turn into an effective communication, base or exchanges and an opportunity for self-sustainability.